In recent years, a vibration wave motor having characteristics such as low speed and large torque has been put to practical use as a driving motor for auto-focus of a photographing lens of a single-lens reflex camera, for example. Meanwhile, there is a demand for further miniaturization and high power of the motor. To achieve miniaturization and high power, countermeasures against heat generation and temperature rise of the vibration wave motor are important for the following reason. Some energy loss, i.e., a part not used as output energy among input energy to the vibration wave motor, is that converted into thermal energy. However, when the vibration wave motor is miniaturized and increased in power, the amount of generated energy loss per volume and per surface area increases. These deteriorate functions of constituent members of the vibration wave motor, and cause a temperature rise which affects its performance. For this reason, countermeasures against heat generation and temperature rise of the vibration wave motor are important.
To deal with such a problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H03-253270 discloses a vibration wave motor including a cooling fan that rotates integrally with a moving member. Additionally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-065673 discloses a vibration actuator in which a radiator fin that rotates integrally with a moving member also serves as a cooling fan.